


We Saved the World (and Then Forgot About It)

by quicksilverjimon (quicksilvermalec), quicksilvermalec



Series: TMI Headcanons [3]
Category: The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Clizzy had kids, ENTIRELY FLUFF, F/F, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Jimon had kids, M/M, Max Lightwood-Bane is GAAAAY, Reincarnation, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, bit not really cause I dislike AUs, but not really, enjoy, everyone's dead, high school au sort of, mundane AU sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-26 20:00:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19012861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quicksilvermalec/pseuds/quicksilverjimon, https://archiveofourown.org/users/quicksilvermalec/pseuds/quicksilvermalec
Summary: "Guys, we saved the world. Then, we all died and came back as the same people!"***Self-indulgent fluff involving reincarnation and way too many OCs.





	We Saved the World (and Then Forgot About It)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [writingisntapastime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingisntapastime/gifts).



> I wrote this a really long time ago but it's never been posted because I was afraid it was terrible.
> 
> For [writingisntapastime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingisntapastime) because she's listened to my many rants and actually been the only living human to even come close to having read this. Enjoy, hon.

It didn't make sense - none of it. They had told him what he needed to know - sunlight, crosses, blood - and it all proved true, but still Simon could quite wrap his head around it, couldn't quite make himself believe that he was a _vampire_.

Vampires didn't exist... right?

He was sitting in his room in total darkness, staring at the wall, lost in his own head. He was so distracted that he nearly jumped out of his skin when his phone chimed.

 _Fuck_.

He, being the complete king of dorkature rhat he was, had customized all his ringtones by person so that whenever he got a call or a text, he knew who it was from without having to look at the display.

"Fuck, fuck, _fuck_!" he shouted scrambling for the device and staring at the name and smiling face on the screen for a second.

Then his hands, without permission from his conscious mind, answered. The. Call.

"Hey," he whispered shakily.

"Simon," came the voice he lived so much, sounding concerned and slightly distorted from having been turned into light and then back into sound. "Are you okay? We've all been trying to get in touch with you. You haven't called or texted in days, you haven't been at school... what's going on? Maybe if you tell me, I can help you. I've proven to be pretty good at that."

"No, you can't," Simon replied coldly. "You can't help me with this. Listen, babe, I can't - you and I are now longer living in the same New York. My world and yours are apart from each other now, and it would be extremely unfair of me to pull you into this mess."

"Simon, _please_."

Simon pursed his lips and stayed silent, which was a pretty good indicator for the other to keep talking. 

"Simon, even if I can't help you with... whatever it is you're going through, I'd like to be there for you. I love you."

Simon didn't say anything for a moment, then quietly but finally said, "goodbye."

His boyfriend's cry of "Simon-" was cut off by him hanging up.

 

* * *

Jace stared at the phone in his hand in disbelief for a minute before turning to face his four expectant friends.

"Is he okay?" Clary asked apprehensively.

"I have no idea," Jace replied. He threw his body down on one of Magnus' numerous couches like a sack of potatoes. "He won't tell me anything. I told him I loved him, and he said nothing. Simon _always_ responds.

Clary and Izzy (both of whom had dated him in their own turns) nodded. Alec just looked concerned and slightly constipated.

"So he didn't tell you anything? I'm getting a little freaked out and I have a history test tomorrow-"

Jace rolled his eyes. "Brother, don't have anxiety about having anxiety. It completely defeats the purpose of anxiety." He stood up. "Besides, I'm the only one here who strictly _needs_ to worry about Simon. I'm his boyfriend. All the rest of you can fuck right on back to your regularly scheduled lives for all I care."

Magnus sighed and stood to match him. "For the sake of my Alexander's sanity, and for poor, socially awkward Smith-"

All four of them, including Alec, whom he was defending, unanimously corrected him. "Simon."

"Whatever. For their sakes it is my responsibility, as the senior, to tell you that you're wrong and being ridiculous. We all care about him, we all care about you, and we are not going to abandon either of you like that, Herondale."

"Lightwood," Jace corrected absently and automatically. Then he sighed. "Fine. But I'm going to his house. Come with me if you absolutely have to."

* * *

 

Simon needed some more information about vampires and the Shadow World, so, naturally, he went to the Institute.

There was this cute Shadowhunter guy there who was maybe fifteen years older than Simon (he couldn't have been older than thirty-two). His name was Rafael, and he had been helping Simon out with his undeadness problem.

All Simon really knew about him was that he had been orphaned when he was younger and he was trying to improve relationships between the Institute and the Downworld alongside his warlock brother Max. He also had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't exactly... cishet.

When Simon got there, he was greeted warmly by both Rafael _and_ Max, which was a surprise. Max wasn't often at the Institute; he lived in a fourth-story loft in Brooklyn, besides which he was the High Warlock, so he didn't usually have very much time for things like his adoptive brother.

Simon, however, couldn't quite get in the cheerful mood. "Can you help me with a somewhat personal problem?"

"Sure. What's up, Simon?" Rafe asked.

"I- well, my boyfriend is starting to freak out about my sudden mysterious social disappearance, and I just... don't know what I'm supposed to tell him. 'Hey, by the way, I'm the walking dead.' How do I get him off my back?"

Rafe was quiet, but Max ran down the hall into one of the bedrooms and returned with a children's storybook. 

"I'm not quite sure what to tell you," the blue warlock admitted, "but this might help." He opened the book to a page with vivid art depicting a brunet around Simon's age surrounded by what might have been his own memories.

"We used to have this uncle - he died some years back - named Simon who became a vampire at 17, then a Shadowhunter. When he became a vampire, he had to come up with a way to hide it from his mom and sister. This- it's a children's book, but it might have some valuable insight. It's the story of some of the greatest heroes of our parents' generation. Here, keep it."

He shoved the book at Simon. Simon took it uncertainly. He glanced back down at the page, and a word jumped out at him. _Magnus_. Not a very common name.

"Uh, thank you," he said, starting to back toward the front entrance and tucking the book under his armpit.

He read through the entire thing four times before the others showed up.

* * *

_19 years ago..._

The sounds of battle raged around them, but they were muted. The six of them were... somewhere. Everything around them was just white. Pure, impenetrable whiteness.

As they watched a figure appeared in front of them. It looked almost as if it had been formed from smoke.

It kind of looked like a Silent Brother, though less deformed, almost beautiful in a timeless, featureless way. It spoke like one, too - it didn't move it's mouth, but the voice issued from all around them. 

"All of you are dead," it said. "You have all died on the same day, in the same battle. And now you must choose how you will renter the earth."

Alec spoke first. "Do you mean, like, decide who we're going to be in our next life?"

"To a degree, yes."

Alec looked at the others. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I don't know if I'm quite ready to give this person up yet."

"That is common, and many people choose to go back as the same or similar people to those they have already been. However, you must note that your soul can only take so much repetition."

Alec smiled. "Here's what I want to do. I want to be Alec Lightwood, socially awkward gay archer, all that good stuff - but I wanna be a mundie."

Clary stared at him with the slightest hint of a smile. "You. Of all people, _you_ want to experience mundane life?" Her tone was more disbelieving than questioning.

Jace shrugged. "I'm in." Alec looked at him sideways with an expression that said that he'd thought Jace would put up more resistance. Jace rolled his eyes.

"Even in death, Alec, we're still _parabatai_." Alec smiled warmly.

Simon answered next. "Sure. I mean, that is how I spent the first, what? Seventeen-and-a-half years of my Nephilim life? I love Shadowhunting, but the mundane world is less dangerous."

Clary agreed, and Izzy just pointed at her, saying, "I do whatever she does."

Which left only Magnus. Alec turned to the warlock, who put a hand on his shoulder.

"Magnus," Alec whispered. "I want to experience mortal life with you. In the mundane world, we could get married and grow old together as cliche as that sounds, without the combined burdens of your immortality and the danger of my career."

"But Alexander, what about our children?"

Alec smiled a little morosely. "Well, we're already dead, so there's not much we can do in that department. And besides, Rafe knows how to run an Institute, he watched Jace do it for enough years, and Max has been emulating you since before he could walk. He'll be an excellent High Warlock. And yeah, maybe we won't remember them, but they'll remember us, and wing that make it all worth it?"

After a moment, Magnus nodded. "Okay, my love."

* * *

 

_Present day..._

Jace banged on the door to his boyfriend's apartment. Clary, Izzy, Magnus, and Alec watched anxiously from behind him.

Simon opened the door in record time and breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Guys, thank G-" he seemed to choke for a second, then moved on. "Thank the Angel that you're here, I had just been about to call you."

He grabbed Jace's arm and takes him into the house with strength that Jace hadn't known he possessed. The others followed tentatively, and Simon led them up the stairs to his bedroom, where he dropped into his mattress.

"Simon, are you okay?" Alec asked worriedly.

"No, I'm a vampire. Guys, there's someth-"

"A _vampire_?" Jace shrieked.

Simon rolled his eyes impatiently. "I'm not going to hurt any of you. The New York Vampire Clan and the Institute are helping me deal with bloodlust 'n' shit."

Alec put one hand over his mouth. "The Institute? As in the Institute _Nephilim_?"

"You know about Nephilim?"

"It's been my fantasy since I was a child. Are you saying that the Shadow World is real?"

Simon nodded. "Yeah. Listen, there's something really important that you will want to know."

They all shut up and sat down.

"Okay. I just came don the Institute. There's this really nice Shadowhunter there, his name is Rafael, and he and his brother Max are fighting to improve Shadowhunter-Downworlder relations. Downworld is vampires, warlocks, Seelies, werewolves, and the like, and they're seen as lesser creatures by the more bigoted Shadowhunter community."

Taking it in stride, Clary asked, "okay, cool, but what does this have to do with us?"

"I'm getting there. The reason that they care so much is because Max is a warlock and their dads - yes, dads - were a warlock and a Shadowhunter. Guess who they were?"

"Who?" Jace asked.

"Only two of the most famous men in Shadow World history - the High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane, and his husband Alec Lightwood!"

They all stared at him blankly.

"Okay, I'll back up. Forty years ago, five teenagers and the High Warlock of Brooklyn saved the world. Twice. From rogue Nephilim. First from Valentine Morgenstern, then from his son, Sebastian Verlac-slash-Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern. Those six people were, interestingly enough, two gays, two bisexuals, and two pansexuals. Firstly, Clarissa Adele 'Clary' Fray/Fairchild."

He indicated each in turn as he said their names. "Her girlfriend Isabelle Lightwood, Izzy's brother Alec, Alec's boyfriend Magnus Bane, Alec's _parabatai_ Jace Lightwood, and the good-for-nothing tag along, Simon Lewis. Well, Lovelace. But not yet. Guys, we saved the world. Then we all died and came back as the same people!"

Jace looked up at him with sympathy laced with concern. "Si, baby, you know how crazy you sound right now, right?" he inquired gently. Simon sat down like a balloon deflating.

"You don't believe me," he murmured. Jace sighed sadly, then the room was quiet for a beat.

Alec, who had been staring off into space, turned his head to look directly at Simon. 

"Can you take me to the Institute?"

Simon stared at him, wide-eyed, and very slowly nodded.

* * *

 

The six of them stood outside the Institute, staring up at its towers of rubble in wonder. Simon turned to face his friends.

"Okay, so, since you're mundane, you can't actually see it, so I'm going to go grab a Shadowhunter to help you out."

They nodded their comprehension and Simon strolled inside.

"Hey Rafe!" he called. "There's someone out here you'll want to meet! You too, Max."

Curiously, Rafael followed him outside and Max followed Rafael.

"Alec," Simon floated smugly, "this is Rafael Lightwood-Bane and Max Lightwood-Bane."

In unison, Alec and Magnus' jaws dropped onto the pavement. Simon turned back to the other two. "These five need access to the Institute."

"You'd better not be telling random mundane about the Shadow World," Max warned. "You don't even know what the Clave-in-Exile could do to us for that."

"Relax, Max," Rafe admonished him. "We trust Simon." He pushed up his sleeves to the middle of his biceps and walked over to Magnus and Alec to grab one of each of their hands, quite obviously showing off his runes and muscles.

Max sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "He's such a narcissist," he complained under his breath. "He spent too much time with Uncle Jace when he was a kid."

Simon's boyfriend stared at him. "Jace who?" he asked cautiously.

He never got an answer, However, because at that moment Alec gasped loudly and everyone looked at him.

He was staring at the ruined building in front of them in total awe. "It's so beautiful," he whispered. Magnus only nodded in agteement, unable to form words. Simon had had a similar reaction his first time.

As he went to do the same for Clary and Izzy, Rafe smirked at them and asked, "are you together?"

Alec nodded dumbly and Rafe winked. He looked, in that moment, uncannily like Magnus, despite being a, Latino, b, a Shadowhunter, and c, wearing no makeup.

"You make a cute couple," he told them sincerely.

After he hooked Jace up with Institute-Vision, he walked over to his brother and slung an arm around his shoulders. "My brother Max, here, is following in dad #1's footsteps. He is very, very gay."

Max's face looked vaguely purple, which told Simon that he was probably blushing.

"What can you tell us about your dads?" Simon asked. Max sighed, but Rafe was the one who answered. Simon was beginning to understand the dynamic here.

"Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood. Dad - Alec - was a Shadowhunter and Papa was a warlock. They died in battle, together, fighting side-by-side, which they really deserved, after everything. After they died, I became Head of the Institute - an overly pretentious title, if you ask me, not that anyone ever does - and Max became the High Warlock."

"Also a pretentious title," his brother interjected. Rafe gave him a winning smile before continuing his thought.

"He's the first warlock anywhere in the history of ever to inherit the title from a parent since, you know. Warlocks are immortal and can't have children."

Max leaned over and whispered something to them, and Max brightened.

"Come on," he called, turning and jogging toward the Institute. "There's someone I want you to meet. Multiple someones, actually."

* * *

 

"Sam and Devyn," he announced as he led them through a maze of hallways (he pronounced the second name like _DEH-vinn_ ).

"Who are Sam and Devyn?" Izzy asked.

"Well, Sam is Max's boyfriend - don't worry, he's adopted so it's not weird - and Devyn is... Devyn. I can't just explain Devyn to you."

"You say Devyn's name a lot," Clary observed. Max turned and, while continuing to walk backwards, informed them, "Rafe is in _loooove_ with Devyn." Rafael smacked him.

"Does Devyn have... pronouns?" Clary asked uncertainly. Max made a 'don't worry about it' motion with his hands.

"We haven't seen Devyn today, so we don't know Devyn's pronouns, but most of the time it's she/her."

Clary nodded, and then they turned into the Ops Center. Standing there was a tall, thin, honey-skinned person with hip-length black hair and stunning green eyes and a boy with ruffled brown hair, lovely ebony eyes, and skin the exact same brown-sugar shade. He looked up when they entered, but his companion didn't glance away from the phone in front of them.

The boy took a look st the group, then looked away a d walked over to Max. "Babe," he asked quietly. "Why do those two girls look like they're younger versions of our moms?"

Max sighed. "I don't know, Sam. We're working on it."

Sam took another almost plaintive glance at Izzy and Clary, and the other person set down his/her/their phone, walking over to him.

"Sam, our moms are gone. They died nineteen years ago, and they're not coming back. I know you miss them, I do too. I'm sorry."

"I know, Dev," Sam replied, and Devyn hugged him. Then Devyn pointed at Max and Rafe and said, "by the way, it's she/her today."

Once Rafael managed to stop staring at her, he seemed to remember the six teens he'd admitted to the Institute.

"Sam and Devyn are twins," he explained to them. "Very rare thing for warlocks. Their mother loved them greatly but died of a disease when they were four and, being a demon wreaking havoc on people's lives, their dad wasn't around much."

He grinned. The way that he inserted a joke into everything to take the edge off reminded Simon heartwrenchingly of Jace.

"They were adopted by our father's - you know what? I'm just gonna call them Magnus and Alec - Alec's sister Isabelle and her girlfriend."

Just then, Simon glanced over the Shadowhunter's shoulder at the twins. Devyn was making pink smoke fly around the head of a very unamused Max, and Sam was playing with her hair. She saw Simon looking and smiled.

"My brother is the type of queer guy who will do hair, nails, makeup - anything within reach. He could really only be more like our Uncle Magnus if he stole his boyfriend's apartment and title and dumped buckets of glitter on himself at regular intervals."

Rafe stared at her with total heart eyes. Sam rolled his eyes fondly and Max snickered and elbowed his brother in the ribs. Rafe shook himself and glared at Max.

"All five of us lost our parents at once. Same day, same battle," he informed them grimly. 

"Five?" Simon asked. "There are only four of you here."

"Ph, the fifth member of our little quintet will be here when she gets here."

As if on cue, a tall, curvy white girl with naturally wavy blond hair down to her butt entered the room. She was talking away in her phone and completely ignoring the rest of the world. She wore a red miniskirt and a light-blue-and-white checked shirt.

When she finally finished whatever she'd been doing, she glanced up, looking at Simon and his friends disinterestedly for exactly 0.2 seconds before turning her attention back to the mobile in her hand. "Who are these jackasses?"

"Chehalis," Rafe began cautiously. "We think these might be our parents."

That got a reaction. 'Chehalis' rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "I swear to the Angel, all four of you. Constantly going on about your parents. I never held much sentiment for Jace and Simon. Uncle Alec was really something, though."

Max rounded on her, and for the first time, Simon heard him raise his voice.

"Bull _shit_!" he screamed. "Don't fucking lie! You loved Jace and Simon nearly as much as they loved each other. You're just- goddammit, 'Lis, you're acting like _him_!" He turned and glared at his brother. "Between the two of you, you could be the next Jace Herondale! And I'm not talking about his combat prowess. You know as well as I do that he was fucked up."

He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself from his rant, but now Chehalis was worked up.

"By the Angel, don't even try to sell me on your insane fucking reincarnation theory. Okay, so maybe my walls are down. Maybe I'm not at the top of my game. Yeah, okay, I loved my dads. But they're dead now and non matter how hard you try you can't give me them back!"

Everyone stared at her. After a moment, Devyn said, "I think that might be the first time I've heard you admit to loving someone who wasn't Kaelie."

"Don't talk to me about Kaelie!" Chehalis snapped, then sighed, probably dismayed that she'd had an emotional breakdown in front of six randos. She turned on her heels and stormed out of the room, her brown eyes stormy with rage and self-loathing.

In a halfhearted attempt to change the subject, Rafe said, "for centuries Shadowhunters have believed in reincarnation, and you six could be living proof that it's real!" His eyes were bright and his voice enthused, but he suddenly dimmed. "But how could we tell?"

"Talk to someone who knew your dads as teens?" Simon suggested.

Rafe lit up. "Yes!"

He turned and sprinted through the halls of the Institute, leaving his guests to over exert themselves to keep up, until he stopped at a door with no plaque. He knocked twice, then opened the door slowly.

Sitting on a rocking chair was a woman in her late seventies-early eighties, but still a beautiful warrior.

Alec inhaled audibly, then walked up to her. "Hi," he told her awkwardly. "I'm Alec Lightwood."

"Oh, I know," she breathed. She hugged him, then Jace, then Izzy. "My children, oh, my beautiful babies. You've come back to me."

Rafe smiled a secret, private smile and said, "we have to leave now, Grandma, but make sure you come get some food a little later, okay?"

She nodded absently, and they left the room.

Jace, Alec, and Izzy all looked shaken. Rafe was smiling like he'd just cured cancer. "That's it, then."

"What's it?" Simon asked. Rafe's dazzling smile was turned on him. "She's a little senile, but she'd know Alexander, Isabelle, and Jave Lightwood anywhere, any time. She raised them - all three."

They reentered the Ops Center, Simon squeezing Jace's hand, Clary with an arm linked in Izzy's, and Magnus with his hand on Alec's shoulder. Devyn, Sam, and Max were waiting for them.

Abruptly, Clary pushed past Simon and Rafe and wrapped both Sam and Devyn in her arms at once. Devyn was so surprised that she dropped her phone.

Rafe turned and saw Magnus staring at him and Alec at his brother. Max walked over to them. 

Sheepishly, the blue Warlock murmured, "so, I guess that makes you our dads."

Then Alec, Magnus, Rafe, and Max were one huge pile of hugging, crying people who'd been finally reunited.

Chehalis walked through to get to somewhere else and Jace and Simon roped her into a group hug as well before she could protest.

And when they went home, Simon knew his friends would struggle with the reality of the Shadow World and reincarnation, but right now they were with family they'd never known they had and they were happy, and that was all that mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> Holy crap this is long. This took me three full hours to COPY OUT OF A NOTEBOOK because I'm doing it in a browser on my phone. I hate myself.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Love,  
> -Sil


End file.
